


Watching You Sleep

by MacBeka



Series: Secure [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Monster Gabe, Young Hanzo, monster au, monsters under the bed au, smoke monster Gabe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 19:29:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13577439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MacBeka/pseuds/MacBeka
Summary: A young Hanzo wakes in the night to a strange noise.There's something under his bed.





	Watching You Sleep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hobovampyre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hobovampyre/gifts).



> This is the beginning of what could be a very long series. Hobovampire and I have spent a week talking almost religiously about an AU in which Jesse and Gabe are monsters that live under Genji and Hanzo's beds. I have a record of it all. It's very long. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The creak came again and Hanzo huffed, sitting up in bed, his small fists curling up in the blankets. Whatever that noise was, it was keeping him from sleeping. He reached over to turn on his lamp, looking around the room. There was no one else, unless they were exceptionally good at hiding. He crossed his arms and scowled.

His father had tried to scare him with stories of assassins in the night but Hanzo wasn’t scared. He saw the guards that lined the castle walls and halls, that were outside his very door. He knew they were capable. He’d even finally managed to convince his father to let him progress from martial arts practice to swordsmanship. Well, kendo, but Hanzo had considered it a victory. He could protect himself, he was a big boy. He was safe here in his bedroom.

The noise came again and Hanzo crossed his arms. “Wherever you are, come out _now_ ,” he demanded, chin up and proud like the clan heir he was.

There was no response so Hanzo swung his legs over the side of the futon, the low frame meaning his knees bent and his feet pressed into the tatami mat. He’d insisted on a traditional Japanese bedroom, despite his mother constantly asking if he was sure he didn’t want a more western bed. He’d shaken his head stubbornly and that had been the end of that.

Hanzo sat at the edge of his futon and just listened. He let his eyes close and took a deep breath, focusing on his surroundings, trying to pinpoint the noise. It was silent for a long time. Long enough that Hanzo frowned in annoyance and stood, searching his room, even moving his books and his few toys in case there was an animal stuck looking for a way out. Hanzo had never seen a mouse or a rat or any other animal small enough to get trapped in his bedroom but he’d read about them in his books; he was sure he could identify anything he found and then try and free it or get help, depending on the size of the creature.

There was no mouse. There was no rat. Nor bat, bird or fly. The bedroom was silent except for Hanzo’s breathing. Had he been imagining the noise the whole time? Was it in his head?

“I know you’re here,” he chanced, holding his breath to listen for any noise.

There was nothing for a long time, not until after Hanzo had needed to gasp in a breath.

The creak came again.

Hanzo’s eyes darted to its origin. His _bed_. He hadn’t checked under the futon because the gap between the wood and the tatami mat was a matter of inches. Perhaps mice were smaller than he’d thought. He walked towards the bed and knelt, crouching down to peer underneath.

Hanzo could see nothing and started to sit up. As he straightened, a noise came again. This time, it wasn’t the creak that he’d been hearing. This time it was the sound of nails slowly dragging along a length of tatami. Hanzo knew the noise from experience, when his meditation sessions dragged and he distracted himself with tracing the pattern of the weaving.

A sudden flutter of fear settled in his stomach and he swallowed hard. He shouldn’t look. If it was a spirit, he didn’t want to anger it. There were many stories of spirits and ghosts and demons of great power that were easily angered. There were also stories of demons who used their power for good and helped people, but why would a demon like that be hiding underneath Hanzo’s bed? There might not be anything. Maybe Hanzo _was_ imagining it. But he had to check.

Hanzo took a slow, deep, shaking breath as he leaned down again. There was nothing so he sighed a breath of relief.

Then, two glowing red eyes opened and a black mass appeared.

Hanzo screamed and threw himself away from the creature under his bed so he could scramble to his feet and _run_. He could hear the wooden door rattling on its track as he threw it aside to run out. The guards patrolling the halls were already running towards his room, guns at the ready, but Hanzo was long gone, even with his little legs. He ran to his parents room and crawled onto their futon.

It wasn’t until his mother wrapped her arms around him that Hanzo realised he was crying and shaking, clinging to her nightclothes.

“Mama!” Hanzo sobbed, pressing closer to her as she soothed him.

“What’s wrong, Hanzo?” she asked, one hand holding him close while the other stroked over his hair.

“There’s s-something in my room,” he managed to say, wiping his wet eyes on the back of his hand.

“What?” Papa asked, standing from the futon to go to the still-open door and watch what was happening down the hall.

“What was it?” Mama asked, gently drying his cheeks.

“I don’t know. A demon. It had red eyes, it was under my bed,” Hanzo said, the tears threatening again as fear clutched at his heart anew.

Hanzo heard his father sigh and return to the bed.

“There’s no such things as demons or monsters, Hanzo. Go back to bed.”

“Sojiro,” Mama said sharply before returning her attention to Hanzo. “They aren’t real, Hanzo. It’s okay, nothing’s going to hurt you here.”

“Can I stay here?” Hanzo dared to ask, sniffling. His little fingers curled into his mother’s clothes.

“No. Return to bed, Hanzo,” Papa said.

Hanzo’s shoulders sagged, meaning he missed the sharp glare Mama gave Papa over his head.

“Why doesn’t Papa take you back to your room and check everywhere to show you that there’s nothing to be afraid of?” Mama suggested softly, stroking Hanzo’s cheeks and hair.

Hanzo nodded dejectedly and slowly climbed off the futon to move to his father’s side. He was surprised when Papa took hold of his hand but did his best not to show it. He could practically feel the eyes on him as they walked down the hallway, past Genji’s door. Hanzo desperately wanted to hold his brother. Genji’s presence always managed to calm him, even if he was only little.

“I’m sorry, Papa,” Hanzo said softly.

If Papa had heard, he didn’t say anything.

When they reached Hanzo’s bedroom, Papa ordered Hanzo onto the bed. Hanzo did as he was told, pulling the blankets over his legs and clinging to them as he sat and watched his father investigate the room. When he knelt down to check under the bed, Hanzo tensed, so close to calling out to Papa to stop because the monster would get him but the words caught in his throat, his eyes wide in terror.

Papa straightened up again, unharmed, and Hanzo let out a breath that he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.

“See? Nothing. Go to sleep. You’re the heir to this clan, Hanzo; Shimadas do not get scared or show weakness, do you understand?” Papa said coldly. “You’re seven years old. Even Genji doesn’t jump at shadows.”

“Yes, Papa,” Hanzo said softly, head down as tears burned in his eyes. He could feel the disappointment from his father. He didn’t need to see it too. “Goodnight.”

Papa left after that and Hanzo curled up in his bed. He didn’t dare close his eyes for longer than a blink for fear the monster would get him and drag him under the bed to eat him. Hanzo would stay awake the whole night, he had to. If he slept, who knew what could happen?

Hanzo fell asleep in the early hours of the morning as the summer sun began to rise. When he woke, he quickly looked around the room. There was no demon looming over him ready to steal him away or eat him or any other possibility that made Hanzo quake with fear.

It wasn’t until he was dressing that Hanzo realised the lamp beside his bed was off. He swallowed hard and hurried, almost running out the room.

Hanzo had been too afraid to turn the light off the night before.

Something - _someone_ \- had done it for him.


End file.
